Nigella Lawson admits to cocaine use

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson admitted Wednesday in a U.K. court that she did cocaine a handful of times.

Hopefully not all at the same time.

But Lawson denied she had a drug habit, and said her ex-husband Charles Saatchi spread the allegation to hurt her reputation, according to the New York Daily News.

Lawson said Saatchi, a wealthy art dealer and advertising mogul, threatened to destroy her if she didn't clear his name after he was photographed earlier this year gripping her throat outside Scott's restaurant in London, a widely published image that -- understandably -- was followed by the couple divorcing.

"He told everyone that he was taking cocaine out of my nose at Scott's when he knows that is a lie," Lawson said, testifying at the trial of two former assistants accused of fraudulently using the couple's credit cards.

If he was trying to get cocaine out of her nose, may I suggest either his aim is bad, or his knowledge of human anatomy isn't up to speed.

Lawson, 53, appeared as a prosecution witness at the fraud trial of Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, longtime employees who worked as nannies, cleaners and assistants for the former couple. Coverage of the trail has focused more on the couple's failed 10-year marriage and their tempestuous home life than on allegations that two women were stealing from them.

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Well ... yeah. Who cares about a couple of assistants going off with credit cards? People want the real dirt.

According to the Daily News, defense lawyers for the employees have suggested that Lawson ignored the Grillos' expenditures in return for their silence about her drug use.

Right. The drugs that she sniffs through the nose on her throat.

Known for her sensuous TV manner and "domestic goddess" image, Lawson said Saatchi spread "false allegations that I was a habitual user and drug addict" who snorted cocaine daily.

"People who do that are a lot thinner than I am," she said. "I have never been a drug addict. I have never been a habitual user."

Right. People who do drugs are rail thin. Just ask Toronto's mayor.

Lawson said she did cocaine half a dozen times with her first husband, John Diamond, while he was dying of cancer. She she said she also did it once in July 2010 when "I felt subjected to acts of intimate terrorism" by Saatchi.

That must have been when he was trying to get it out of the nose on her throat.

"A friend of mine offered me some cocaine and I took it," she said. "It completely spooked me."

Lawson -- who, someone should point out, isn't the one on trial -- also said she had "smoked the odd joint" during the last year of her marriage to Saatchi.

She said she was reluctant to testify because she was subjected to a campaign of "bullying and abuse" from Saatchi, whom she divorced in July. "He said to me at the start that if I didn't go back to him and clear his name, he would destroy me," Lawson said. "He started spreading false allegations of drug use. I have been put on trial here ... and in the world's press."

The Grillos -- sisters from Calabria in southern Italy -- are accused of using credit cards loaned to them by Lawson and Saatchi for household expenses and then spending 685,000 pounds (more than $1 million) on luxury clothes, accessories and high-end hotels.